New Forum - Eldar Resplendent

Thanks to my friend, a new forum has come to my attention, one that started recently but I've been wanting for years, ever since I started Eldar. Yup, it's an Eldar forum!

The Eldar Resplendent forum is still young (ironically) but thanks to the new codex I think it has a huge potential to help all the newbies who are converting to our web-ways *haha*. I hope to be quite active on this forum and sharing my 'wisdom', though will surely be getting a lot of ideas from it too.

I encourage all Eldar players, new and old to try this forum and look around.

So, see you on the web-way,

- XaP

Doom of Mymeara

To my delight I received The Doom of Mymeara on Christmas Day! Suffice to say that I have read it over several times and have become hooked on the idea of fielding a Corsair army; whether this involves an overhaul of my old Saim-Hann or a completely new force is yet to be decided, by my wallet. 

As for the book and my opinion I think it is the best Imperial Armour book yet, least from what I've read, and I really loved the plot twist at the end; they managed to incorporate a personal level story line whilst also getting to play with several big titans like the Phantom! Very clever and very Eldar. I love all the amazing pictures where they use models and photoshop as they are incredibly realistic. The introduction at the start looks like an Imperial report on the war and is very well laid out and shiny smooth, impressive and well done. Overall, outstanding job.

Now to the models, rules and most importantly, Corsair army list! I am sorely tempted to get a pirate force filled with Wasps and Hornets and other amazing Forgeworld goodies as they really are beautiful models and the rules are very usable (finally BS4 Guardians Jetbikes!). If I was to do one it would involve a split force to best make use of the entire product range, something like a firebase or Corsairs with jetpacks, Wasps then a fast detachment of jetbikes and Hornets with Venoms following. It should be great fun to play, a cross between Dark Eldar flimsy and Eldar firepower.

Best news of all and what is most likely to tip the scale in my decision to buy into this new army is that my Gold Duke of Edinburgh begins soon and I can quite easily do this army as my skills project for a year, learning to paint it properly and take my time to convert and base well from the local GW shop manager. If I can get a decent army list and the confidence to 'invest' hundreds of pounds into resin then I'm all set....

Painted Eldar Tanks

I've been rather busy lately painting all of my Eldar tanks. Here are the results:

Wave Serpent

Eldar Wasp Assault Walker

So Forgeworld is gearing up for the release of Imperial Armour 11 with a flurry of new Eldar units; first the Hornet, then the Shadow Spectres and Warp Hunter and now the Wasp Walker. It is all very exciting.

Now to the Wasp Assault Walker. I was never a fan of the normal War Walkers as they are just too slow amongst my Saim-Hann (although scouts helps) but respected their immense firepower. The idea of a faster, yet still as lethal walker is brilliant and very scary.

The rules are interesting as you are basically paying 15 points to make a War Walker non-open-topped, able to deep-strike and have an interesting jet pack move at the expense of scouts. A good trade I think as all of the options are still there and all the weapons are still as powerful, 8 S6 shots anyone? Deep-striking and jet packs make this vehicle really useful as it can keep up with all the fast skimmers while also bringing plenty of extra firepower which is not susceptible to anti-infantry guns. The jets make it an excellent objective contester as they can pin-point drop beside an opponents objective then assault any infantry their giving them a 30" threat contest range. That's epic! The only downside is it cannot claim even though it is a Troops selection.

The model is pretty decent but not much different to a War Walker, just jets and a larger cockpit window. This means it will be easy to convert, especially from Star engines from Fire Prisms.....

Overall I cannot wait to see this unit in IA11 as it can bring masses of shots for little points that are still mobile and survivable.

New Forgeworld Eldar Units and Rules

So I just got an e-mail from forgeworld saying about their brand new Eldar units and models. I must say I immediately read and re-read everything. They are truly amazing, rules and models. Here's my own opinions.

Shadow Spectres 
These are cool models and have neat rules but they are really gimmicky. With only a T3, 4+ save and 12" range, one-shot guns they will die quickly even with their 5+ invulnerable save. They are also extremely expensive if you want any use out of them and make use of the weird combined beam thing (around 200 points) for which you only get one solid shot that is only slightly stronger than a Fire Prism blast. I think they were intended as a heavy infantry hunter as their jetpacks let them run around slow units like terminators but they just don't have enough shots to do enough damage. Taking up an already crowded Heavy Support slot I don't think we will see many of these.

Here are the expensive models in question.

Warp-Hunter
Now we get to my favourite new unit, the Warp Hunter. I don't like the model that much but the rules are amazing. Like all D-weaponry it can cause instant death, wound everything on a 2+, kill tanks easily and is AP2 so ignores all armour saves. The only reason why I don't use Wraithguard is because of their short range but the Warp Hunter doesn't have that problem. Even better, it has the ability to use a D-cannon-like flamer, yes an AP2 flamer that wounds on a 2+. Truly amazing. The gun is even barrage so can fire indirectly. The only problem I have with this tank is that it is 10 points more than any other Eldar tank but that is really a small price for such an awesome tank.

In short I love the new units and can't wait until they release the next Imperial armour, the Doom of Mymeara.

Schools League Decisons

With only 1 week to go until Schools League I am still undecided on what to take.

On one hand I want to take my Eldar as they are fast, have a lot of S6 shooting and are my best painted army. I would take the following list for Eldar;

HQ - Farseer, Jetbike RoWit, Guide, Singing Spear - 118
Troops - 3 Jetbikes, Shuriken Cannon - 76
Troops - 4 Jetbikes, Shuriken Cannon - 98
Troops - 4 Jetbikes, Shuriken Cannon - 98
Fast Attack - 3 Vypers, Scatter Lasers, Shuriken Cannons - 210


Total = 600

The idea would be to just pummel the enemy with hundreds of S6 shots mainly from the Vypers being guided by the Farseer (21, S6. BS3. reroll to hit shots!). It is highly mobile but has no AP4 or less shooting and no gun higher than S6. I have also not won any of my practice games with this.

Eldar Tank Upgrades

After having read a post by Kirby over at the 3++ about Eldar tank upgrades which got me thinking about my army list. Mainly about how expensive the upgrades are and if they are really worth it. So here's a quick overview about each tank upgrade which are available to all of the Eldar tanks and my opinions of them.

Holo-Fields

Holo-Fields have always been one of my favourite upgrades of the entire game. It makes the tank 3 times as survivable although is almost a third of the cost of the tank itself. I would always take these as it made my tanks legendary at survival as my regular opponents never managed to kill them. I would always take them. But my opinion changed as I began to realise how much I was spending on the upgrade. I also found that my Fire Prisms never got to shoot in a game as they were always stunned, shaken or had their gun blown off. This effective made them 150 point battering rams. Not what I wanted. Now I don't take them on Fire Prisms but I would every time if Eldar could ignore crew stunned and shaken.

Star Cannons Redeemed!

On Monday I played a game against my Marine playing friend with my Saim-Hann Eldar. The game ended in a draw by extreme bad luck on my part and good luck on my opponents (1 Lascannon, turn 1, 1 hit, 1 penetrate, 1 failed cover save, 1 explode result, 1 dead Wave Serpent. THEN 3 wounds on the Dragons inside, 2 die, failed pinning test, failed morale test, run off the board. All from1 Lascannon!!!!) I know stop complaining about luck, it's all in your head but I happen to live in my head too so.....

Anyway, I wanted to discuss my Star Cannon Vypers, not luck and about how they became amazing when I gave them good fire lanes and still get cover from return fire. They really managed to convince me in this one game that Star Cannons are worth taking and maybe better than Scatter Lasers which I was considering switching them out for. The AP2 helped a lot by not giving my opponent an armour save especially when I also positioned them so the unit didn't get cover either. It more than compensated for only 2 shots.

Plasma is better.

Fire Dragons: Suicide Squad?

Being the latest addition to my Saim-Hann army these guys have been at the forefront of my attention for a few weeks now, enough time for me to have some doubts. Since I have been snowed in I have been playing many practice games against myself (I was proxying my friends lists) and have found them to be less than what I hoped.

Have my (limited) painting skills been wasted?

I had imagined these guys leaping out of their near invulnerable transport before they blow up a tank, any tank, in a huge fireball of death 99.9999% of the time. I mean 5 meltaguns at BS4 are guaranteed to kill any tank. Aren't they?   

Well no, they aren't. I found that their Wave Serpent kept dying to Hive Guard or Missile Launchers, even with its energy field and cover saves. When they did get there that BS4 seemed more like BS2 when I couldn't hit anything, always rolling 1 or 2 hits. Then their melta weapons always fell flat, I rolled snake eyes twice in a row when I only had 3 hits! The AP1 did help but I was surprised when they just knocked off guns and immobilised things. So much for a 'guaranteed kill'.

Eldar: Fruit of the Snow Day

So after a cold but well spent day here are the fruits of all that work; sooooo much better than school. The Fury of the Eclipsed Star is nearing completion.

Click the pictures for a bigger view.

Helmets and base stalks denote squads.

Blue Team

I also based the flying bases.

Friday Fluff: Falcon Sky-Dive

Todays fluff is about the Falcon (the only Eldar tank I haven't tried yet) but will also be a little rant. To me this is a perfect example of GW lack of Fluff to Rules ability and general common sense. It is the opposite to the Raveners last time, they were given acute senses, but no shooting weapon?!?

Anyway, here's the bit of fluff I'm talking about, it's found in the Falcon unit entry in the Eldar codex:

Many Falcon pilots specialise in flying hidden within the clouds only to dive from the skies, pulse lasers and shuriken weapons spitting death into the ranks of the enemy.

Or Tank-shock, it's all the same.

More Eldar Tweaking

After a few more games there are some more things I have realised about my Eldar list. It is that they cannot deal out enough wounds on a target, especially one in cover.

The main problem here I think is the Star Cannon Vypers. They are excellent at slaughtering marines out of cover but my opponents now that too. Thats why they never get clear shots at anything or what they're shooting at is in terrain (devestators). Also against my Tyranids they fare badly at killing even 20+ gaunts so I need more shots. So I am thinking the way to go now is Scatter Lasers.

Is Laser better than Plasma?

Eldar Fault-Finding

Hey everybody, this is the 50th post! Unbelievable.

Here are some stats:

• 2,340 Pageviews
• 14 Followers
• Views from dozens of countries, in order, UK, USA, Canada, Finland, Australia, France, Ireland, Germany, Ukraine, South Korea, etc, etc.....

Anyway, after much thinking, muling over, the 2 games on Monday and 2 games against myself I have found a few faults in my current Eldar list. First the faults then the possible solutions.

Are Warlock sergeants worth it?

Another thing I have begun to realise about my Eldar is the lack of anti-tank. I have Fire Prisms but they never get to shoot; I have Vypers but they want to shoot heavy infantry; I have shuriken cannon jetbikes but they always miss with a lousy BS3. The only reliable anti-tank is my Farseer with his trusty singing spear and his cousin Warlock and his Witchblade.

Against most armies they can wreak tanks as they have usually stayed still or moved only 6" and have rear armour 10 so 5 S9 attacks will almost certainly wreak something. However they are only 1 squad and against my Tau friend (who's tanks move 12" and fire) they do nothing unless they are very lucky.

So how to solve this problem. Simple take out the Night Spinner (which does nothing) and replace it by upgrading two 4-man jetbike teams with a Warlock. Who has a witchblade. And Embolden. This will make my now annoying jetbikes into tank killers; make them sub-par rather than Tau-terrible in combat and solve the annoying Ld 8 problem.

I must try this and see how it works out.

Learning from my Mistakes

I played a couple of games today with my friends (hopefully get a report up later) and feel that I have really turned a corner in using my Saim-Hann well. I drew one game and lost the other so am really learning from my mistakes but no matter, hopefully others can also learn from my mistakes. Here's my main points I found that worked badly.

Missed the bell: Forgeworld Hornet

My studies have kept me back too long, this came out weeks ago but I didn't get round to talk about it. Stupid exams. Anyway, the Hornet is a new Forgeworld Eldar tank with some awsome new experimental rules which in typical Eldar tank fashion is overcosted, under armoured, is a lousy BS3 and to work needs to be spammed or included in a mech heavy army.

Also the model is only decent, not amazing, which is what you would want for £32! It looks like a lobster. 

I hate the circled things. What are they?!

Friday Fluff: Dark Reaper Armour

Ok this is a quick post as I just had 2 teeth out (wasn't too sore) but I thought I should share this cool thing I learned a year or so ago about Dark Reapers.

'All who fear death, fear the Reaper.'

It was basically that I heard from a GW staff guy I was talking to told me that the Dark Reaper is meant to be like a solid exoskeleton, unlike all of the other eldar armour. It not only 'locks' in place when it's time to fire but also acts like the Iron Man suit from Iron Man, holding the weight of the gun and moving in time with the wearer sot they feel no weight and is easy to aim and fire. The Reapers can also 'see' through their gun's muzzle through a psychic link to gain unprecedented accuracy.

Very cool.

My Eldar Army List

I realised recently that I hadn't put up my actual army list on the blog, only pictures and fluff. So without further ado here it is:

The Vypers are Done!

I finally finished the three Vypers I showed a few days ago. They are really nice models and are amazing in games, especially against marines.

Here's some pictures:

Group Shot.

My Magnetic Bases

Hey guys and gals.

Here is my version of the famous Fritz's magnetic jetbike bases. Tutorial found HERE.